Easy As Breathing
by Bridgey-Bridge
Summary: Post-Eclipse: Jacob Blacks POV. Some Max Ride references. "You got me stealin your love away, cause you never give it; Peeling the years away, And we cant relive it; I make you laugh, And you make me cry; I believe its time for me to fly" -REO Speedwagon
1. Bonfire Party

Easy As Breathing: Post-Eclipse as Told by Jacob Black

Chapter One: Bonfire Party

* * *

**Author's Note: I am really new at the whole fan fiction thing, so I don't know if I am going to continue writing or not, it all depends on the kind of response I get. A little disclaimer: I consider myself a huge Stephanie Meyer fan (the character of Jacob Black and some others plus a lot of the storyline belongs to her) but I have only read the series once, so if you find mistakes or things that don't quite match up to the facts, kindly let me know, there are many places I could be wrong. This is the first chapter of "Easy as Breathing" let me know how you like it. It starts out right after Eclipse ends, I just continued the story. I haven't read a lot of fan fiction eithar, so if I am copying someone's ideas (besides Stephanie's, obviously) I am really sorry, it was unintentional.**

I kept running. When I am in wolf form, the world blurs. That's how it was now, just green and brown and more green, blurring past me. I didn't know where I was going; I didn't even know where I'd been. One face was burned into my mind. Bella, in a wedding dress, smelling like some sort of frosting made with Clorox and way too much sugar. Bella, marrying that bloodsucker I couldn't stand.

Most werewolves can run for a long time. Sam once ran for almost a week, five days at least. It was right after the incident with Emily. Ever since I became a werewolf I knew what it felt like to be Sam. I also knew what it felt like to be Leah, ever since she changed, but now… I felt Leah's pain on a whole other scale. It wasn't just happening to Leah and felt like it was happening to me, it really was happening to me… right now. I had lost the one I loved more than anything. I had been trumped by the monsters of the world. What would have been as easy as breathing became something more difficult than dying. But in a way, knowing Sam and Leah as well as I did, I could understand why Bella had left me. It was sort of like imprinting. Bella and I loved each other, just like Leah and Sam had loved each other, but just like Emily was something more than love for Sam; Edward was something more than love for Bella. I couldn't fight with that anymore. Suddenly I felt like I understood Leah on a whole new level. Yeah, she had been hard on the pack, but we were hard on her too. She had a heavier load than we did. She had to face Sam everyday, have him in her head. She didn't ask for this, I didn't ask for this. None of us asked for this. Even the bloodsuckers didn't ask for their fate, things just happen.

**Author's Note: I was a HUGE Jacob/Leah shipper, I wanted them together, but when Leah didn't imprint on him, I kind of gave up. I still want them to reach an understanding though, especially since he is going through almost what she was with Sam and Emily and all.**

I knew I must have been running for at least seven days. I had passed little towns and mountains and streams. I had run along the coast for a day or two, but none of it mattered. I realized I was hungry and tired. The tiredness wasn't something I was really used to, being what I was. I never stopped running, except for certain times. I would stop running whenever the voices would come into my head. Leah, telling me to stop whining, Sam and Quil and Embry begging me to return, Paul almost glad I was gone, Seth wishing I was there for him to look up to, Jared… it all became too much after about two seconds. Whenever they popped into my head, I changed back into a human, running naked through the woods. For what seemed like the hundredth time in a week, the voices returned. I didn't even wait for them to think anything. I changed back into a human.

I finally came across a little tourist trap of a town along the coast. Westport, WA, the sign said. I had swum past it, letting the pounding water cool me and wear me out. The town was smaller than Forks by a little bit, but still not near as small as La Push. I realized I wanted a real bed, a real meal and a shower. I was going to shave my head again, my hair was getting in the way and it didn't even matter what Bella thought anymore. The sharp stab that I had felt when I received the wedding invitation had dulled to an ache, no less painful than before, but less… intense. Now that I was human I realized that I was naked. As a wolf, everything blurred, but as a human, everything was sharp and intense, like my senses had been rubbed raw by Bella's rejection and everything seemed to remind me of her.

**Author's Note: Westport is a real town in Washington, south of La Push by quite a ways, but I haven't been there for a while. Some of what I say about it is probably incorrect, but I want you to see it as I saw it: completely beautiful! The ocean is gray and wild there, I imagined the beach at La Push looking a lot like my beloved beach at Westport, so I thought it would be great to include a place I actually knew and loved in my story, especially since it played such a big part in how I saw parts of Stephanie's story.**

I dragged myself out of the ocean, tossing my head, trying to shake out some of the salty water that was weighing it down. I looked around, becoming painfully aware of my surroundings. This place reminded me a little of the beach at La Push where I had first spoken to Bella. It wasn't as rugged, it was sandier and there weren't any cliffs, just grassy banks. To the north there was a wooden, tourist-y port with a boardwalk and little shops; ferries and boats moved around in the water. I could barely see it, but my wolfish hearing could detect the clang of shipping bells. The beach was long and wide. I could see some scruffy cabins and motels about a quarter mile up. The beach was probably a motel-customers-only novelty. It was completely empty. I realized that if I were human, I would probably be cold. It was less than 60 degrees, and the water was near freezing. Perhaps that is why such a beautiful beach was abandoned by the human set. I started to think about a way to get some clothes when I heard the voices.

The beach was so long and open, the only place to hide was the water itself. I knew I could handle the cold, what worried me is what would happen if someone happened to look at the exact spot in the water my head happened to be bobbing. I dived, then turned to watch the group strolling down the beach, laden down with blankets and bags. There were five of them, three girls and two boys. They all wore long sleeves and long pants. I was right, for a human it must be cold. I couldn't see their faces, but I noticed that one girl wore her hair long and they seemed to be building a bonfire on the beach. I sat for at least three hours, watching them. They must have came at around 11:00 am, because when the sun did shine for about five seconds about an hour after they got there it was shining almost straight down. They roasted hot dogs and laughed and talked until the fire almost burned out. I was reminded once again of the first time I really talked to Bella, the first time I really began to fall in love with her. Four of them started preparing to leave. The wind must have been just right, because I heard snatches of words.

"You're going WADING??? You must be crazy?" This was a blonde girl with a peppy little ponytail.

"I like the water, you guys go on up, I'll only be a few minutes." The girl with her hair down answered. It was light brown, I could see now, and a complete mess. The damp saltwater and wind had whirled it into tangles that even now whipped around her face even more. I still couldn't see her face, but somehow, I found her hair kind of pretty, the wild way it blew with the changing wind.

She rolled up her pants and took off her shoes (Converse All-Stars, the hi-top variety; pink) and socks. Then she started walking right toward where I bobbed in the water. She reached the water line, and waded up to her knees. She was getting way too close, but she still wasn't facing me and her hair was whipping around more then ever. I really wanted to see her face! She stared out at the horizon. The sand, the sea and the sky were almost exactly the same shade of gray, it was hard to see where one stopped and another began. Waves crashed up her legs, wetting the rolled edge of her pants. She wasn't super skinny, but she wasn't fat either, by no means. She kind of reminded me of Bella. Her legs started to turn red from the cold, all the blood from her body rushing to them, goose bumps rising. She turned around, as if she was going to leave the water, then did a double take, turned, and looked straight at me.

**Author's Note: This is my version of a "cliffhanger." I hope it was suspenseful enough for you to want more! Review please, and perhaps I will write more. I might do it for myself anyway, I am kind of wondering what happens to Jacob. That's why I started this in the first place.**


	2. Trumped By Monsters

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 2: Trumped By The Monsters… Sort Of.

**A/N: Well, here's chapter two. I don't like it as much as I liked chapter one, but I felt like I had to continue the story, and this is where it went! Let me know what you think.**

"What are you doing!" she screamed. "You are going to KILL yourself!" I could hardly hear what she was saying for staring. She wasn't really beautiful, definitely not a supermodel, but there was something about her… I could feel every fiber of my being shifting toward her. Her face was what caught me. She had blue eyes, not stunning blue, just regular blue. Regular blue eyes have never looked as beautiful as hers did, fringed with a ring of thin, pitch-black lashes… and she wasn't wearing mascara, or any makeup at that. Her face was round, she had these cheeks that looked like they should be on a baby, but it worked on her, made her look pretty, cute, adorable. She had an airy, casual, normal, _human_ air about her. Once again I was reminded of Bella, and I felt a guilty stab of pain as I realized that my love for Bella was still painfully there. But there was no denying that I loved this girl too. There is no easy way to explain it, she was all that I wanted, all that I needed… but there was still the fact that I was naked up to my neck in freezing cold water, I didn't even know her name and she was screaming at me. This was going to take a lot of explaining.

**A/N: I know, she doesn't sound that gorgeous. Actually, she was kind of based on me. I kind of have a thing for Jacob! lol, plus I loved how Stephanie made Bella so normal! I wanted to portray that too, that no matter what your little flaws are, there are many, many things about everyone that are beautiful. I know, it sounds kind of mushy, but I really think its true.**

"Umm… I… lost my clothes." It was the only thing I could think of to say. I realized I couldn't lie to her, and this was technically the truth and the only halfway normal thing I could tell her. What was I supposed to say? "Actually, I'm a werewolf and the love of my life ran off with a vampire, so I thought I would go for a seven day run and a quick dip in freezing water to get away from it all." Actually, had I said that, her response would have probably been the same.

"WHAT!?!?!"

"I'm kind of naked, I lost my clothes." I lamely responded.

"Umm… I think I'm going to want a better explanation than that, especially since no one saw you get into the water. You would have had to swim here from someplace else. Either that or you have been here watching us the whole time." She said. Great, she wasn't stupid. That could either make things easier or harder for me.

"Uh, the last one was about right."

"So," she enquired, "are you going to explain?" She said it with such a cute, confused, inquiring face that I had to try really hard to keep from smiling.

"Can you get me some clothes first, so I can get out of the water?"

"Oh my goodness! You must be freezing! Hold on, I'll get you our bonfire blanket."

She ran up the beach, shivering in the violent wind, and grabbed a blanket off the ground. She shook the sand off while she ran back to the water. Her teeth (white and straight, but not blindingly so) were chattering. My heart reached out to her, I just wanted to take her into my arms and warm her up. I wasn't cold at all, but she didn't know that. She was so sincere, from the first words she said she was concerned about me, not herself. And as much as I wanted to tell her I really didn't need the blanket, that she should just wrap it around herself, I was even more aware of my nakedness now that she was around, and I really needed to get some clothes.

She waded a few inches into the water again; I watched her shudder as a freezing wave crashed up her legs.

"I don't want to get the blanket wet, so you will have to come to me. The coast is clear, and I won't look." She stretched out her arm, the blanket hanging from her fingertips. Then she turned and put her other hand over her eyes, squinting them shut tight at the same time. It was so cute, such an innocent thing to do. I knew that she wouldn't peek, as much as I wouldn't mind if she did. I rose from the water and walked up and grabbed the blanket. I knew I would get way too hot if I wrapped it around my entire body, so I just rubbed my hair dry and slung it around my waist.

"Okay, you can look now, I'm decent." I said. She turned and jumped a little, a blush rising on her already wind-flushed cheeks.

"Umm… I thought you said you were decent?"

"You mean I'm not?" I said, confused.

"Well, it's really cold and… I thought, umm…that…" Even as she trailed off I saw her eyes trail over my chest and all the way up my towering frame. I suddenly realized that she wasn't really used to the physique of a Quileute teen (aka werewolf), and that it probably looked kind of fishy for me to spend three hours in freezing cold water and violent wind and then not even cover my torso with a blanket. So, for her sake, I pulled it up around my shoulders and stepped the rest of the way out of the water.

**A/N: I was going to try to stay away from the whole physical aspect of everything, but it didn't take long for me to realize that Jacob is kind of cocky in a way and would find a way to show off his excellent bod. And what girl wouldn't blush? lol.**

"You're right, I guess I was kind of numb; I couldn't really feel the cold until now" Once again, not a lie, really, I was emotionally numb, and she had sort of un-numbed me. Also, for her sake I didn't want to dump the truth on her all at once.

"Oh, and I'm Jacob, Jacob Black." I wanted to get to know this girl, and I figured I should start with telling her my name.

"Nice to meet you Jacob, I'm Alaina. Alaina Phoebe Moskovitz." Even her name was pretty. She smiled at me. "Why don't we go sit by the coals and warm up?" She was shivering again. It was starting to really scare me, something about her made me want to protect her from everything and anything that would even begin to cause her harm or discomfort in any way. I suddenly realized what was happening to me. I had imprinted on Alaina and there was no way I could live without her. It made me smile. This time, I had been dealt the monster trump card. The one thing that could ever even begin to trump my love for Bella, the only person out there that could ever put ointment on my wounds, had stepped into my life. And there was no way I was letting her step out.

**A/N: Alaina is kind of a nerd, in a way. I love my middle name, but I still don't introduce myself with it! I thought that sort of showed how innocent she was, that she introduced herself like that. I know I might be kind of stretching it with the underlying meaning in this one, but I kind of liked the way she did it. I like Alaina, I really do. Now I sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but she wasn't really planned like this, it just kind of happend. So, she's kind of new to me too. OH, and the trump card thing. I think there was a part in Eclipse where Jacob says to Bella that if there were no monsters they would be together, well now the "monsters" (like himself) are giving him a more-than-soul-mate like they gave Bella one...Edward... idk, I thought it sounded kind of confusing when I read through it but I didn't want to take it out so I thought I would TRY to clarify, but idk if it worked!**

As I had suspected, it didn't take long for me to get too hot inside the blanket. Once we got to the fire, I took the blanket off my shoulders again. Alaina raised an eyebrow (rounded morethan archedand obviously not plucked or waxed. She liked herself the way she was) but didn't say any thing. She scooted closer to the fire, relaxing a little bit as heat from the coals wafted towards her. I scooted up a little, despite the heat, just to be next to her.

"So, Jacob, are you going to tell me your story?" she asked.

"Do you promise to believe me?" I asked

"Umm, sure, why wouldn't I?" she enquired.

**A/N: I still have no idea how I am going to have Alaina react when Jacob tells her the truth. Because he will, he is way to smitten not to. Wait, now I am giving away the ending of my own story, kind of. It's just like me to comment on every aspect of my own story!**

"It's kind of a crazy story. What about your friends, are they waiting for you? To tell it all will take a while, and I am still only wearing a blanket. Are you sure you even want to hear it?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. But you're right. I should get back to the cabin. I'm here on vacation. I live in Seattle. Oh, and you _are_ going to need some better clothes, but I don't know if Toby has anything that will fit you."

A rush of jealousy suddenly surged through me.

"Oh? Who is Toby?" I asked, raising both brows, I wasn't skilled enough to raise just one.

"My brother… what's it to you?" She raised one brow again. Man I wished I could do that.

"Oh, just wondering. I want to know everything about you." As soon as I said it I knew it was a little bit creepy and moving way too fast. I hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way. She blushed a Bella-ish blush and the painful stab returned. Even the monsters of the world couldn't _completely_ annihilate true love. But they had come pretty close with Alaina.

"Oh, that's cool I guess. Stay right here, I'll be back in a half hour. What's your pant size?" She was going to shop for me. I was once again struck by her sincerity. She didn't even know me. I was overwhelmed by the thought that she might like me too. Why else would she be doing this for me? I told her my size and she pulled on her sneakers again, gathered up the rest of her stuff and walked up the beach, turning to smile and wave before she disappeared behind a grassy hill. I was suddenly exhausted. I scooted away from the hot fire, pulled the blanket off, leaving part of it draped across me in case she came back early, and then I fell asleep.

**A/N: OK! That's the end of that chapter! I hope you liked it. PLEASE review, even if you are telling me that this is the worst story you have ever read. I love hearing from people. Oh, and I know the imprinting thing might seem a little cliche, but I thought it was the only thing that would make Jacob feel better without making it seem like his love for Bella wasn't the real thing. Like in Romeo and Juliet when the minute he saw Juliet, Romeo forgot all about Rosaline, I thought that made Romeo seem way too dramatic like he never loved Rosaline at all, and I didn't want it to be like that with Jacob, so I gave him an excuse to forget about Bella. But notice he hasn't! Just like Bella still has a soft spot in her heart for Jacob, he still has a place in his heart for her. They won't ever forget each other if they both live forever, but they also won't leave their "trump cards," Alaina and Edward. Okay, I might as well just not write the rest of the story. Auughhh! I am so long-winded! OK, I'm really done now.**


	3. Telling the Story

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 3: Telling the Story

**A/N: Once again, I'm not sure I like how this chapter turned out, but that's just how the cookie crumbles. I don't think it couldv'e happened any other way. Well, actually that was a big fat lie, I had all sorts of different ideas, but I couldn't really work the other ones. So here it is. Let me know what you think.**

I dreamed of Bella. I saw her again, warm and laughing, talking to me on the beach, blushing and smiling. I saw her that time we went to the movies with Mike Newton, I saw her riding the motorcycle we had worked on together in the garage. I saw her pulling up to my house in her red truck, grinning at me through the window. I saw every beautiful memory I had shared with her, and as each one passed I reached more closure. The last memory wasn't a memory as much as a vision. It was Bella, cold and smelling acid sweet, tears of joy streaming down her face as she threw her arms around Edward and kissed his lips as pouring rain soaked her white, old-fashioned dress. Pain ripped through me again. Then Bella was warm again, the sun was shining on her light brown hair as it whipped into tangles behind her. She was kissing me now, but she wasn't Bella anymore. She was Alaina, and we were kissing each other on this very beach, only the clouds were gone and the waves were brilliant blue instead of wild gray. Then her voice drifted toward me in the dream, saying my name.

"Jacob… Jacob! JACOB!" She was screaming it now; I wondered what was wrong. "Wake up!" I suddenly realized that she was actually talking to me in real life and I should probably wake up. I was exhausted and starving! I couldn't exactly run off and kill a squirrel in wolf form with Alaina around. Not right now. Plus, squirrel didn't sound that good. Dinner with Alaina sounded much better.

"Auugghh" I groaned, stretching. "What's up?" I yawned, raising both eyebrows again.

"Umm… I brought you some clothes, I thought you might want to wear some actual clothing." She set a pile of clothes next to me, then turned and covered both of her eyes, waiting for me to change.

"Thanks a lot" I muttered, then pulled on the jeans. They were pretty expensive, I wondered why she was spending so much money on me. She had also bought me some socks, white sneakers, a tee shirt and a light zip-up jacket. I pulled on all the clothes except for the jacket.

"Okay, you can look now" I said. This time I really was decent, I had actually covered all of me. I liked the feel of the shirt. It was plain green,and it was a nice fabric, kind of soft and airy. I would never be able to pay Alaina back for all this, even if I did retrieve my wallet somehow. Billy and I weren't exactly rich. I suddenly realized how stupid I was for not planning anything about my "escape." I could have at least slung my wallet around my neck or something. I wasn't thinking when I changed, obviously. That is usually the case when we change spur of the moment, it's brought on by anger and pain. Alaina turned, looked me over and nodded a little.

**A/N: It seemed kind of weird for me to have Alaina spending so much money on a complete stranger, but the story wouldn't work out any other way, so I incorporated the money thing into the story anyway.**

"Good, it all fits!" she smiled looking up at my face. "Now what?"

"Umm, I don't want to leech off you, but I'm really starving and I don't have any money, obviously. I will find a way to pay you back though, trust me. Lets go out to dinner, just you and me." Man, I was going to have to figure out a way to keep my stupid mouth shut, I was going to scare Alaina off if I kept flirting so shamelessly.

"I was hoping you would say something like that!" she beamed again "I told my people that I needed some alone time and I was going to head to the boardwalk for a solitary supper and they shouldn't expect me back until dark. It's only 4:00 now, so we should beat the rush and still have time to hang out by the water!"

"Sounds great!" I replied, leaping for joy inside. She had to like me too! Why else would she be spending so much time and (cringe) money on me. Then again, she might just be a super nice girl; I didn't really know that much about her. One thing is for sure though; I wanted to learn more.

We walked out to the road, avoiding the cabin she was staying at so no one inside would see us and ask too many questions too soon. The boardwalk was only a short walk away, so we wouldn't have to borrow the car. We strolled down the road together. It was lined with green, healthy trees whose branches stretched to bathe as much of the road as possible in dappled green shadow. Hardly any cars were driving along the road, and the wind had died a little bit. We talked about our families. I could tell that Alaina was desperately curious about my story, but she didn't press me. I told her that I lived in La Push with my dad, Billy, and that I was really into cars and pretty much anything else with an engine. She told me that she was here on vacation with her brother, Toby, her sister, Angela, and their respective flames, Louise and Cody. She was seventeen and had just graduated from high school. This was the big celebration trip, funded by her dad, some rich corporate lawyer that she hardly ever saw. She was rich; that was why she didn't think twice about dishing out money. Her mother had died in a freak accident when she was very young, and her dad threw himself into work to forget about her.

**A/N: I wanted to make it feel like Jacob and Alaina were made for each other. They have a lot in common, they can sort of help each other out with the pain and stuff, it works for them.**

"I'm really sorry, Alaina. I know how it feels." I told her about my mom. I felt like I could talk to her about anything, we had so much in common. We reached the restaurant she wanted to go to, and I ate like a horse. She watched me plow through dish after dish after dish. We didn't talk. I was too hungry to talk and she was too busy watching me to say anything. Sometimes she would burst out laughing at my enthusiasm. Once, I cut myself on my knife. It healed within seconds, and it wasn't a shallow cut either. She did her raising an eyebrow thing, which was a huge relief to me. She wasn't going to ask questions now. I figured she already knew there was something fishy about me. She also didn't freak out at the sight of blood, which I kind of appreciated. Sometimes Bella's blood thing could be a pain in the butt.

**A/N: I got to the point where I realized that _Jacob_ would probably get to the point where he would stop caring what Alaina saw and just accept the fact that he was going to have to tell her the whole story.**

Finally, I felt satisfied. I pushed my food away, and we started talking again.

"Okay," she said, "I think I have been pretty patient. Start at the beginning, because not only is this situation not normal, but this…" she reached across the table and grabbed my hand, flipping it over to look at the spot where there should have been a scar "isn't normal either. There is a lot more to you than meets the eye. Spill." Her stern face was really adorable. I knew I was going to have to tell her the whole story tonight or my chance to be with her might pass altogether.

**A/N: Alaina is so awesome. She can just hang out with Jacob without questioning him, but there comes a point when even the most patient people can't stand it anymore and say something.**

"Let's walk." I said, getting up. Alaina paid the bill (a horrendous amount, due to my appetite. I felt really bad about the money thing) and we walked out the door. We walked to the beach behind the restaurant. It was nearly as long as the beach behind the motel. As soon as we got out of hearing distance of any curious restaurant waiter, she turned and looked me right in the eye. And did the eyebrow thing. I sighed, and told her the whole story.

I started by telling her about my tribe and our legends and customs; especially the legends. I went on to tell about Bella and Sam and the pack, Edward, the vampires. I pretty much worked through my life ever since I first talked to Bella on the beach. I didn't leave anything out and the story took a good three hours. I finally ended with the wedding invitation and how I was running. Alaina just listened. It was dark when I finished and we had walked ourselves up and down the beach several times before finally going back up to the road. We were silent for a while as she worked my story through her head. Every once in a while she would comment or ask a question out of the blue. She grabbed my hand again to feel my body temperature. We had almost reached the motel and I was feeling really nervous. Did she believe me or not? Did she think I was a monster? The whole thing was way too close to the time Bella first figured out what I was. I was once again afraid of what would happen if this perfect person that I loved so much rejected me because of what I was. I had told her about Sam and Emily. She knew what could happen if I lost control around her. She also knew about imprinting, but I didn't tell her that I had imprinted on her. I thought that might be a little too much for one night. Finally we reached the motel.

**A/N: This is a really weird part of the story for me. I wanted to move along with the story, not have Alaina and Jacob just hang out for days until they get comfortable enough around each other to tell their stories. So, I know it seems a little weird for them to know each other for only a day and already they are eating out and she knows his deepest darkest secrets and all about his old "girlfriend." But I guess sometimes stories have to move kind of fast or else they get boring.**

"I'll buy you a room." She said. "Meet me at the beach at nine tomorrow morning. I believe you. Have a good night." Then she went into the motel's office. It was too short of an answer, too short of a statement for me to be sure she was okay with the fact that I was dangerous. I didn't know if she liked me enough to give me another chance. I must have looked really discouraged and dejected; because when she came back she smiled, took my hand and squeezed it. Then she gave me my key, turned and walked to her cabin.

**A/N: Alaina is a sweet girl, but even she wouldn't just accept a werewolf right off the bat without thinking about it first. It's kind of a big thing. At least Bella had come to accept that monsters are real with Edward before she had Jacob dumped on her, so it wasn't so hard to believe, but with Alaina... it's a lot different. I debated with having Alaina have a"dirty little secret" too that would make it easier for her to understand Jacob, but Alaina's too normal for that.**

I walked to my cabin too, thoughts swirling in my head. I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn't. I was too filled with human thoughts. I changed into a wolf, and then curled up on my bed. Sometime in the early morning the voices of the pack came again. I let them flood my head for a while, sharing my story with them. Then I changed back into a human, showered and prepared to meet Alaina.

**A/N: Maybe your thoughts don't get easier to manage when you are wolf, but I like to think that maybe they are easier to bear, easier to turn off. There's still the whole pack thing though. I don't know if Jacob is going to be able to face his pack or his dad or Forks again or not. Anyway, enough with my annoying comments. I hope you liked this chapter and I hope they don't keep getting progressively worse. I honestly have no idea where I am going with this story, so if it seems a little choppy that's why. Review! Please!**


	4. Second Chance

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 4: Second Chance

**A/N: Sorry about the author's notes, but I can't stop, I'm addicted. Skip over them, I'm totally cool with that, they are more for me than the reader anyway. I will try to cut back, but I feel naked without them! Hope you enjoy the chapter, sorry it's a little on the short side and took so long to come out.**

It was only 7:30 when I walked out to the beach. I wasn't supposed to meet Alaina for another hour and a half, but I wanted some time to think. The beach was empty, except for one person sitting on a towel and writing furiously in a notebook. The sky was gray, as can be expected pretty much every day in Washington. I thought about Alaina and how she had said she believed me. The way she said it stated plainly that believing wasn't good enough. She wasn't sure what she thought of me yet. I violently kicked myself. Why hadn't I waited until she had a chance to get to know me before I told her my life story? As I walked past the girl on the towel, I could hear her pencil furiously darting across the page. She was too deep in her writing to notice when I sat down beside her.

"You're here early." I said softly. Alaina jumped about four feet into the air, clapping her hand down over what she had written, closing the little journal as fast as she could. She tucked it into her beach tote.

"You are too." She coolly replied. I could taste fear in the air and it broke my heart. She was scared of me, at least a little bit. She had every right to be, I guess. I had a sudden flashback. I've never been much for sappy movies, but I had seen "Beauty and the Beast" with my sisters back when they still lived at home. I thought it was the cheesiest "love story" ever. I distinctly remember saying, "What girl would ever fall in love with a monster? This is soo unrealistic." Now I knew how the beast felt, and the worst part is… that movie _was_ unrealistic. I got up and started to walk away. 

**A/N: Alaina is freaked out. I would be too. She likes him, but then she finds out he could change into a giant wolf and eat her for lunch. Don't tell me that isn't scary, not to mention the fact that he is coming on to her. Oh, and vampires are real too. Alaina's life is pretty messed up right now. I might do a chapter or two from her POV just for kicks.**

"Where are you going?" Alaina cried, leaping up so fast she knocked over her beach tote. Its contents skittered across the gray sand. I stopped to help her gather up her stuff, smiling as I helped her put everything back. She had a Seventeen magazine, a bottle of peach Snapple, a tattered copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," some sunscreen, aviator sunglasses and a bundle of Trivial Pursuit cards bound with a rubber band. You can tell a lot about a person by what is I their bag, and it was easy to see that Alaina was a little bit of a Miss Perfect. I couldn't just shatter her little dream world. After I helped Alaina shove the last object into her bag, I turned and continued to walk.

**A/N: Exactly what would be in my bag, Ilove Trivial Pursuit!**

"I've been moving too fast," I said over my shoulder "I've told you too much and now I need to go before I ruin your life."

"You're just going to _leave_?" she said incredulously "You're going to leave after all I have done for you? You're going to leave without paying me back for _anything_?"

I stopped in my tracks, confused. She _had_ done a lot for me. I was still stuffed from the motel's continental breakfast and the soft green shirt she had bought me billowed around me in the wind. I suddenly felt like a complete prat for just assuming Alaina was sweet enough to just let all the money she had spent on me slide.

"Fine." I said, "Give me your address. There will be a check in the mail as soon as I can afford it." She scribbled down her address in the little journal and ripped the page out. I reached for it, but she held the paper out of reach.

"I'll give it to you on one condition. Well, a few conditions. You stay here at least one more day, and we start over. We are going to hang out and pretend that you're normal, I'm normal and everything's normal. Savvy?" She raised a brow and I felt like I had imprinted on her all over again. I couldn't leave now. If I did I would die.

"Okay." I said, and reached for the paper again. She still held it out of reach.

"Okay." She mocked, sticking out her lower lip and slouching her shoulders. She was making fun of me. She straightened up and rolled her eyes. "We start over, which means you aren't going to act all begrudging."

"Okay." This time I said it with a grin, and I raised both eyebrows. "Wanna play Trivial Pursuit?"

She laughed, blushed a little, and handed me the paper, careful not to get too close. My heart seemed to snap again. This was only a second chance; nothing had really changed. I was a little confused as to why she even wanted me to stay at all. I should have just left without her address being she was putting _conditions_ on it anyway. You don't put conditions on things that will bring you gain unless you want something else too. I should have just left after she gave me the address, but I didn't, I wouldn't. Somehow Alaina knew that, like she knew me better than I knew myself even though she had only known me for a day.

**A/N: I did kind of good with the author's notes! I only had, like, 3! Okay, not my best chapter, but I wanted to get one up anyway. Alaina's motives with the address-on-one-condition thing kind of confused me. I guess she knew the money thing would keep him there, idk. Anyway, hoped you liked it, review, etc. etc.**


	5. Oh Snap

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 5: Oh Snap...

**A/N: I don't like this chapter at all. Nothing went as planned. Well, it kind of did, but kind of not. I can only hope that it works itself out in the end and that you all like it, even if I don't. And to my intense sadness, the A/N's are gone, by popular umm... NOT demand. Anyway, hope you like it...**

Alaina was planning on staying in Westport for a week; I had met her on her first day there. It was some extreme luck too, because now we had more time together. She introduced me to her family. Her sister Angela was hilariously outgoing and blonde; I loved her completely ditzy and fun personality. I had never met someone as totally laid back as Angela's boyfriend Cody. He had been all over the world, never staying in one spot for more than a few months and he didn't worry about money. Whenever he ran out he would just work for a while in a random place doing a random job until he had enough money to go again. Alaina's brother Toby was different, he was a little more like Alaina, quiet and reserved, but still a very nice person. Toby's girlfriend Louise was interesting. She was a lot like Angela, but she wasn't as blonde. There was a cunning wit underneath her outgoing personality that was a little bit intriguing. Alaina and I spent most of the next few days hanging out with her group or walking on the beach together alone. She never brought up what we had talked about, and to stay safe, neither did I.

Just as soon as I thought everything was going as good as could be expected, something happened that completely threw me for a loop. It was the fifth day of Alaina's vacation, and I was starting to get a little sad about the fact that she would be leaving soon. We were reading through her Trivial Pursuit cards and laughing on the beach, trying to enjoy the time we had left. I could tell that Alaina still had no idea what she was going to do about me. It's hard to say no to someone who likes you, but still, there was the fear, an underlying fear that I couldn't understand. Yeah, I was dangerous, but she should know by now that there was no way I would hurt her… at least not intentionally. I had a feeling that there were things about Alaina that I didn't know, secrets she was keeping. For one, even though there were a couple of days when it was sunny and hot at the beach, she never would go swimming with me, although I could tell she loved the water by how often she went wading, no matter how cold it was. I knew that I was probably reading more into it than I should have been, but still… something wasn't right. The more I hung out with Alaina and her family, the more confused I became about how I felt about them all. Obviously there was nothing I could do about Alaina, I was stuck and there was no way to get out, but I had a little feeling that I had just spilled my life story to someone who wasn't about to spill back.

Anyway, we were wading, splashing around, etc. when I smelled him... Edward. It was a cool, cloudy day and the sun pretty much wasn't going to come out, that was about guaranteed, but I was still surprised by his daring. Surprised and chilled to the bone. I jumped up, grabbed Alaina's hand and I ran as fast as I could back up the beach and over a grassy hill, pulling her down. We both silently lay down on our stomachs in the tall grass, watching, listening and sniffing the air. Well, I was sniffing the air, I don't think Alaina was. I knew we couldn't hide; we were dealing with a dude that could read minds, for goodness sakes, but I hoped he was too preoccupied to pay attention to us. I should have known better than to hope.

I watched them come down the path, Edward and Bella. She was still Bella, the same Bella she had always been, he hadn't changed her yet, which was a huge relief. I was beyond trying to convince her that she had made the wrong choice, throwing her life away like that, but I still didn't want to see her that way; even though I had accepted that sooner or later it would happen. They were talking, laughing, rings glinting on their fingers. His was a simple gold band, but hers… I had never seen such a glamorous rock. Or series of rocks, I should say, it was a bunch of diamonds twisting in a spiral pattern on top of a gorgeous gold band, which was also set with diamonds all the way around. It gleamed and glimmered even on this cloudy day, like I knew he would if the sun were to suddenly come out. Of course, Alaina and I would be the only ones to see; once again the beach was deserted. Maybe that is why they were taking such a risk. My heart leapt as they came closer. The diamonds on her finger weren't the only ones. The huge, heart-shaped diamond charm Edward had given her hung heavily on her bracelet, and next to it hung my little wooden wolf charm. She hadn't forgotten me. I was glad. Edward paused; a puzzled look on his face, then continued walking, pushing Bella slightly behind him. He knew we were here.

"Oh… snap…" Alaina softly whispered beside me. I thought the same thing. Alaina knew about Edward, of course, about his powers. A jingling tune sang from his pocket. He picked up the phone. My hearing detected Alice's tinkling voice crackling through the airwaves. She warned him that his and Bella's future had just disappeared.

"I know. He's here." Edward said, then snapped the phone shut, turning once more. The wind changed. His acrid scent was no longer in my nose, but I knew that my scent was no doubt in his. Bella asked Edward what was going on, and he, in typical Edward fashion, only pushed her behind him and snarled.

"Wait, Bella. I smell werewolf. Werewolf and something else… and I can hear them."

"Oh… snap…" Alaina said again.

"Don't worry! I know how to take care of us. And he won't hurt us when she is around." I slowly rose. I was surprised to find Edward crouching no further than a foot from us. I didn't let my surprise show, even though I couldn't imagine how he had gotten from the path to here in such a short amount of time without me even noticing.

"Fancy meeting you here." I tried to make the words sound cold and witty at the same time, but I didn't know if it actually came out like that. My Alaina was here, and if he hurt her, if he stole her from me like he had stolen Bella, my world would break beyond repair. I knew that the fear I felt wasn't for me, I would die for Alaina if I had to; the fear was for her. I watched Edward's eyes narrow. Bella gasped behind him.

"Jacob! Where did you go? Billy is so worried and we all missed you! I…" She flung her arms around my neck, holding me close as if she never wanted to let go. I held her too, savoring the moment, knowing that this really was the last time I could. Bella suddenly realized that what she was doing probably wasn't that appropriate. We hadn't exactly parted on excellent terms. I mean, we were civil, but the pain she had caused me could never be completely erased, and she knew that just as much as I did. Plus, I mean, she was married. Shouldn't she have moved on by now? Edward's cold diamond brushed along my shoulder as she pulled her arms away.

"I'm sorry… I… I don't know how to act around you anymore. It's not the same, obviously… I… Why are you here?" She stuttered through the sentences and I was pretty sure she was just as confused by what was happening as I was. I didn't know how to act around her either. I mean, I had just found the love of a lifetime, only to discover that the other love of my life was here too… and the ring and Edward, and everything seemed to cloud up my mind. Then Edward punched me.

"Why did you do that!?" Alaina and Bella cried in unison. I staggered back, holding my jaw. I was tough, but really... so was he! And why was he punching _me_? I don't remember a time when I was more confused, and ever-present in my mind was Alaina... So I did the only thing I could think to do: I slugged him back, and the fight was on.

Alaina wasn't the type to cower behind me while I was being beaten by a vampire. Bella was smart enough not to get in the way, as much as she looked like she wanted to, but Alaina, like the idiot she was, stepped between us. I immediately stopped fighting with him. I didn't want her to get hurt, and hey, I didn't even know why we were fighting in the first place! I mean, the dude can READ MINDS!! Didn't he know the exact reason we were here, every emotion I was feeling? I had purposely thought about the whole story for that very reason! Edward was smart enough to back away after Alaina leapt between us. If he hadn't, if he had tried to jump around her or hurt her in any way... he would have died. I would have killed him right there. Just thinking about it made me quiver. I was surprised I had even kept my cool for this long. I knew I couldn't change in front of Alaina, it would probably give her a heart attack, but I could feel the rage washing over me in hot, dizzying waves. My clothes were too heavy, too hot. I took off my shirt and my shoes and took off as fast as I could for the water. I realized just exactly who I was leaving the love of my life with as soon as I hit the freezing water. I couldn't just leave her there alone! I was between the hammer and the anvil now. If I went back, chances were I would lose it and change, then I would be more dangerous than Edward was. If I stayed, Alaina was with Edward. Snap. I took several deep breaths and let the waves pound my skin for a few more seconds, always keeping an eagle eye on the figures on the beach. Then, I turned and slogged back out of the water.

**A/N: Okay, that's the end of this confusing chapter... really, I confuse myself sometimes. I can't imagine what it must be like for the rest of you. I just knew Jacob had to see Bella again, he just had to. But I kind of found it hard to figure out what Edward would do... I thought bout Jacob and Bella meeting alone first, or whatever, but as you can see... this happened instead. And now I have no clue what is going to happen next. Well, I guess we'll see! Hoped you liked it at least, review and keep reading! **

**Bridget**


	6. Alaina

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 6: Alaina

**A/N: Just a warning, this is a long chapter that I really don't like. I hate it. Alaina didn't turn out how I wanted her to, but still, she has her flaws that showed up... so she's a little bit more human because of it. Oh, the warning. There will be author's notes! I feel like I need them in this awful chapter! Forgive me please. Here's hoping you like it. I tried Alaina's point of view just to try it on for size. I enjoyed getting into her head and will prolly use it again, but tell me what you think. **

_**Alaina's POV:**_

I don't recall ever being in a more awkward place. Jacob had spent hours telling me just how awful Edward was, and now here I was, right in front of him. I don't know what I was expecting. Jacob had given me a brief description of both Edward and Bella, so I knew a little bit of what Edward looked like before I saw him, but still… I was kind of expecting dripping fangs or something. Jacob had made him sound so bad! Well, perhaps Jacob had been a little bit biased. I mean, Edward had stolen his girlfriend-ish thing, so that had to hurt quite a bit. I could see why Bella had fallen for Edward instead. I mean, Jacob was smoking hot, no doubt about that. That's part of the reason I put up with him. I'm not usually that superficial, but there were other things I liked about Jacob too, so I didn't feel so bad about adoring his looks as well as his personality. Jacob was hilarious. Edward was like the white to Jacob's black (haha, Jacob's black, Jacob Black…), the cold to his hot, the bitter to his sweet, the moon to his sun… I don't know how to explain how absolutely beautiful Edward was. Creamy skin, crazy-like gold eyes, lean muscles, perfect features… he was dreamy! And a vampire. I had to remember how much danger I could be in right now. I mean, Jacob was bad enough; He could burst into wolfy-ness at any time, so I had to be cautious. Edward didn't burst into anything; he was vampy all the time. Red flag! I had an inner alarm that told me when to be careful. I had to, or else I could be dead by now, being what I was…

I tend to get lost in my thoughts a lot, like I was now. I space out. It can be a bit awkward if I'm in a social situation and forget everything that is going on just to drown in what is in my own head. So, anyway, there I was with Edward the Gorgeous and his little cutesy girl Bella. I didn't know what I thought about Bella yet. She seemed all right; Jacob spoke of her with too much adoration for me to hate her, but still… she broke this poor guys heart, and while she was pretty, she wasn't Miss America. I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I don't want to sound jealous, so I'll just say that I was waiting to see what she was really like before I decided if she was really worth the fight. Yeah, I'm spacing again. Me, Bella, and Edward, on the beach, Jacob in the water. That's where we are now. Okay.

**A/N: I love Bella to death, but if I were in the story with her and all these hotties were drooling all over her I would be the Lauren... completely JEALOUS! Alaina isn't quite jealous, she is cooler than me, but she's gettin' there.**

When I snapped out of my reverie, Edward was narrowing his eyes at me and Bella looked confused. She gathered a little bit of control and thanked me for breaking up Edward and Jacob's little tussle. I said "You're welcome." Awkward silence. Then Mr. Dreamy-Vamp spoke.

"He told you." That was all he said. That was all he had to say, I knew exactly what he meant. I suddenly felt a little bit naked, I remembered what Jacob had said about Edward's mind-reading powers, and I really didn't like the thought of someone in my head.

"Umm… yeah, he did. I think he told me everything. He told me about you and her, and him and well, yeah…" I really didn't know what you said to a person that read minds. I mean, they knew already. I spoke out loud for Bella's sake; it stinks to be in the dark. Her eyes widened.

"He told you that he's a werewolf? But he can't! He's not allowed to! It's a pack thing, they are only allowed to tell their im- OH!" she gasped. I was suddenly really confused. What on earth was she talking about? I guess he hadn't told me everything. Most things, I think, but obviously not everything.

"He didn't tell you _everything._" Edward kindly told me what I already knew. Then he told me something I didn't think was possible, something I hadn't even considered. "The pack is only allowed to tell their imprints all about what they are and what they do. He told you _almost_ everything. Do the math."

Oh snap. I was his imprint. This guy was like, irrevocably in love with me. That was the weirdest thing on earth.

"Yeah, it's a pretty fascinating thing, imprinting. I don't think I would have understood the intensity of the love a werewolf has for their imprint if I hadn't met Bella." Edward was waxing romantic. I would have thought it was sweet if I wasn't still trying to figure out what I thought about Jacob imprinting on me. I turned my head to the water. I watched him come out of the water and start walking back.

"You are lucky. He's a bit cocky and a little juvenile, but I know he is a good person; you guys will have a wonderful life together. A little part of me wishes I was in your place." Bella was telling me she was jealous? What? _I _certainly hadn't agreed to "a wonderful life together" as much as I liked Jacob. Why were all these decisions already made for me? Didn't I have a choice? I didn't want to break the poor guys heart like she had, so I decided I was going to pretend I hadn't heard all about the imprinting thing, and figure out the "wonderful life together" thing when he actually proposed.

"He loves you. It took a lot of self-control for him not to change when we were fighting." Oh great, now _Edward_ was telling me how awesome Jacob was. I was getting a little sick of people tooting Jacob's horn! Didn't he have some crazy dirt to dish? I wanted to know the other side of the story, why were they just giving me these short little sentences that didn't even tell me what he was all about, just telling me how in love with me Jacob was. How flattering! A million girls would probably give a lot to be in my place, but for me it was just awkward. I had known this dude for less than a week and he's in love. I might be a weird mutant kid, but I don't have the werewolf imprinting thing going for me, I can't fall in love just like that! I knew I _could_ fall in love with Jacob. It would be all too easy… but I wasn't in love just yet. All my thoughts were spinning, and Jacob kept walking up the beach, walking slower than he would've walked on a regular day. I watched him keep coming. I didn't know what to say to these people still in front of me. They knew Jacob better than I did, and I wanted to keep talking to them, but a part of me still wished I didn't know.

**A/N: Bella and Edward are officially being way too nice for this to be a realistic story. I just don't know how to get into their heads! It's so hard for me to make all the characters just like they were in the Twilight books. I guess it's impossible. I try though!**

"He had no right to tell you all about me, he could tell you all about himself if he wanted to, but he is going to pay for spilling the beans about me. And quit thinking that Bella broke his heart. He let his heart be broken by not knowing when to quit." Edward suddenly looked furious. This dude was pretty hard to understand. Maybe it comes from being influenced by all the minds he can hear. Creepy. I wished that Jasper kid were here to calm me down. I needed it; I could feel hysteria coming on.

**A/N: Edward is the hardest to figure out. **

"NO! Don't touch him!" I was freaking out! I didn't know what to think, what to feel, but I definitely didn't want another fight. Or maybe I really did like Jacob. I wasn't even sure anymore. I wished I could go back to the days of Trivial Pursuit and walking on the beach, just getting to know the only hot guy that has ever been interested in me other than on a promiscuous level. I suddenly realized just how into Jacob I was. I didn't want to lose him. I began to understand a little bit more why I had told him to stay, even though he _had_ been moving too fast and he _had_ told me too much (at least according to Edward he had) and he _was_ a little scary. But also a little exciting. But, my life had way too much excitement already. I couldn't take another complication, I couldn't. Not right now. But I couldn't tell Jacob to go away. I liked him a lot. But still… My thoughts kept colliding. My head spun and I blacked out.

**A/N: I don't know if you can black out because of confusion, but Alaina did. I don't know why I stuck that in there. Hmm... I guess I just wanted to see what Jacob would do!**

**_Jacob's POV:_**

I watched her fall. I felt like I was dying, I could think of nothing other than her. I ran to her, shoving Edward aside and knelt by her side. If she was dead, if he had done something to her… I kissed her cheek, then her forehead then her lips, murmuring to her, feeling like I was going to die. Then I suddenly felt furious. I leapt up.

**A/N: Aw. Their first kiss and she's unconcious. How romantic.**

"What did you do to her?" I screamed at Edward. "You would do anything to hurt me wouldn't you? You can't stand to see me happy. Do you have to ruin everything I have?" Tears were tracking down my face. Looking back, I know I overreacted, but I couldn't stand the thought of losing Alaina. I just couldn't. Bella reached out and touched my arm, trying to calm me, but I wouldn't be calmed.

"JACOB!" Edward had to scream at me before I would listen to me. "She was confused and her thoughts got going too fast for me to read, I caught only snatches. I think her body shut down to stop all the thought from overwhelming her brain. She'll be fine. If you thought to find a pulse you would know that. I can hear it from here."

"But… why would she be so overwhelmed?" I was confused. Then revelation dawned. "You told her? You told her? Why did you tell her!" I was yelling again. I knew I was getting out of hand. I felt the waves coming again. Bella touched my quivering arm once more. I shook her off.

"You know, you have no room to talk, telling her all about me." He was so calm, so cool and it was driving me crazy. I took off toward the water again.

**A/N: Sometimes he just needs to cool off! What can I say? He confuses me too!**

**_Alaina's POV:_**

Edward's face swam into view when I came to. I was once again struck by how lovely he was. "Thank you" he said softly. Oops. I should watch what I thought in front of him. I was calm, feeling good, until all that I had learned came crashing like waves over me again.

"Where's Jacob?" I inquired. I was really confused. If he loved me so much, why was Edward leaning over me and not him. I took Edward and Bella's hands and lifted myself up. I watched him dive into the water, and realized he had lost his cool again. I was glad he was considerate enough not to change when I was around. I wasn't ready for that yet, I knew it would bring back my awful past… but my past didn't matter right now.

"Umm… can I talk to you guys?" I asked, knowing I probably sounded like a stupid little kid. "I just, I don't know, want to know your side of the story?" It came out like a question because of my confusion mingled with feelings I didn't understand. I didn't know what we were going to talk about… I didn't want to hear all about all the bad things Jacob had done, or all the good things he had done, I just wanted a little more.

"No." Edward gave such a short answer I was beginning to wonder what he was all about. I could definatetly see the draw to Edward. "We should leave." Sad. I didn't want him to leave. He was so beautiful, so solid. His hand had been cold, but soft, when he had helped me up. I wanted to keep talking to him. I had forgotten Bella was there, and she was looking at me a little bit funny. Edward had a little smile on his lips.

"Why?" I asked "Why do you have to leave?" I was really crushing on Edward and I felt like a fool because of it, Jacob was my man, not him. Then I felt like a fool again for saying that Jacob was my man. Saying that was like saying that I was pledged to him forever, and I didn't want to be tied down. I couldn't be tied down.

**A/N: Yes, Alaina is FALLING for Edward. The very Edward that I can't stand. It makes me hate him even more. I love it. **

"We have to leave because," He leaned in so only I could hear him. Bella looked a little bit affronted. "I'm married and you can't break Jacob's heart. Bye." Dang, this guy and his minds thing. Drat. I wished I was like Bella and he couldn't hear my brain. Edward rose, and him and Bella stood hand in hand waiting for Jacob to come back up the beach. They whispered together and I stood shivering. The sun was going down and the wind was picking up. Jacob came up and seeing me shivering put his arms around me. I felt a little wave of panic when he did, but I didn't pull away for two reasons: I was freezing and I liked him. I could see a little bit of happiness light up his eyes when I melted into the warmth of his body. Edward spoke.

"We're leaving. Let go of your old life Jacob, it belongs to me now. But, just to let you know, Alaina isn't telling you everything." Then he drug Bella back up the beach. She looked over her shoulder and mouthed, "I still love you" to Jacob. Wow, that girl had a few issues. I didn't envy her… except for the Edward thing. What a babe. I resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to see either of them again as they went over the hill and disappeared from sight. And curse Edward for telling Jacob enough about my secret to get him to ask questions. Ugh. As gorgeous as he was, I could never live with him. I liked my mind to be my own, and not to be revealed to everyone. Especially if they were going to TELL people that I had a secret!

**A/N: Ugh. I hate this chapter. I wish I had never brought Edward into the story, he is way too hard to write. But, I guess this leads up to what I really want to write. Alaina's secret. I didn't get an overwhelming response to my poll, so I kind of just went with the choice I liked best and could best work with. Oh, and if you are looking for an excellant idea, just PM BlueyGooz. She is full of them. Oh, and they probably wont meet Edward and Bella again, but if you didn't think I completely butchered their interaction, let me know in your review and I will see where it goes and won't completely avoid those two characters. Who knows? (certainly not me) They could pop up again! I would love to see Bella as a vampire, especially a young and half insane one with red eyes. OOooooh, they _might_ just pop up again! lol. Anyway, I hope you liked it at least. It was longer than usual, hope that's okay with you all. I felt bad since it took so long to update. ANyways, keep reading, keep reviewing. OH! and tell me what you thought about Alaina's POV.**

**Bridget**


	7. Time for Me to Fly

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 7: Time for Me to Fly

**A/N: Yes, Alaina's point of veiw is back. I love watching her change, she's pretty cool if I say so myself (I know, bragging, tooting own horn, sorry) Anyway, I kind of like this chapter, which is rare. Usually I hate them, as you faithful readers know. Anyway, I can't really think of anything else to say, which, as you faithful readers know, is also rare. Enjoy! OH, and there are A/N's, just to warn you.**

**_Alaina's POV:_**

Honestly, it doesn't take much for me to get over someone. Almost as soon as Edward and Bella went over the hill, the little spell he had over me morphed into anger. Why would he pry around in my brain and then blow my cover? I didn't want Jacob to know I was a freak. It was bad enough that he was so open with me and didn't have a problem telling me all that was weird about him, but I liked to keep my little secrets to myself, and I didn't like my brain being picked. That annoyed me at school too, when people would try to copy my answers or whatever. I was the "smart kid." That probably had something to do with my freakishness too. Of course, that's a totally different thing, but similar enough to annoy me. I knew I was going to have to make a choice here. I could either tell Jacob that we had more in common than he thought, although we were still very different, or I could leave. I'm kind of… flighty. I love the irony of that word. I hate being trapped in a situation. I hate having to make choices like this, especially if I could end up ruined either way. As I floated along in my own little thoughts, I became aware that Jacob was still there, probably wondering about what just happened. I was glad he hadn't said anything, although he had stiffened slightly when Edward had told him what he probably already knew. It's easy to keep a secret, but not near as easy to keep people from finding out that you have a secret. I figured he already knew that something was a little bit different about me, he just didn't know what. I hoped he wouldn't ask, because I really didn't feel like telling.

**_Jacob's POV:_**

I stiffened. I knew that Edward knew all about Alaina and who or what she was. It annoyed me that he did. His little skill got under my skin like nothing else in the world. The fact that he told me that she was keeping a secret was all the more annoying. He had blown her cover. He had done the very same thing to me when he told Alaina she was my imprint. If he had just kept that little secret from her, I might have been more inclined to pry into what Alaina's secret really was. Instead, I was mad at him for making her feel exposed. I knew Alaina wasn't telling me everything; it wasn't that hard to figure out. I wished she would trust me enough to spill the beans, but I really couldn't expect her to. I could find immediate trust in her; she was my imprint. You can't lie to your imprint, so it's not like I had a choice in telling her everything anyway. I knew she wasn't a werewolf. If she were I would have been able to smell it, as weird as that sounds. Even if she were, there was no guarantee she would have imprinted on me, which would have made things extremely awkward if she found her imprint. The point is, I'm not her imprint, so she didn't have the power of immediate trust like I did. So, if she didn't want to tell me yet, that was fine. She didn't press and pry when she noticed how completely off the wall I was, is it so hard to grant her the same favor? Who am I kidding? I was dying to know what she was hiding! But I wasn't going to ask. She seemed a little flighty, and I didn't want to scare her off.

**A/N: I think I kind of made up the thing about not being able to lie to your imprint. Whatever, I like it. It makes Jacob always honest, which is cool**

**_Alaina's POV:_**

I knew I had to choose soon. I only had a couple of days left, and the sooner I made my decision the better. My head wheeled. I could let my brain make the decision for me. This guy was half man, half wolf. I could hear the warning bells ringing like none other in my head. Dad had told me stories. Stories about how I got the way I was. Yeah, wolf men aren't really a good idea in his book. Or I could let my heart lead the way, let my emotions tell me what to do. I liked this guy, and he loved me. Didn't everyone deserve a chance? I couldn't afford to take risks, but what is life without risks. I could tell about every other argument and counter-argument that went through my head, but guaranteed you would get more than a little bored after like two more seconds. All this time, Jacob was doing his own thinking; I could practically hear the little wheels whirring in his head. He was still holding me. His pants were wet with salt water and his hair was dripping little drops of water on my head. I didn't mind, because he was so warm it was like a drippy warm shower. His wet pants were getting mine wet too, but that was warm also, so it didn't really bother me. I liked how were right now, me with my back against his chest, his arms folded on top of mine over my waste. It felt good.

That was my heart talking, not my brain. My brain was screaming at me to get away. It was telling me that his warm, strong (the emotions added the warm, strong part) arms could crush my fragile bones with one contraction, even an involuntary one. My heart was trying to calm my screaming brain down, telling it to have a little trust. Jacob loved me! He LOVED me! Couldn't I just believe that and know that he wouldn't hurt me? A gust of wind blew through my hair and I shivered. Jacob rubbed his big hands up and down my bare arms, warming me. The goose bumps slowly retreated back into my skin and I melted once more into his chest. I wondered if he could feel my wings against his chest through my tank top. Yeah. Wings. Finally confronting my own _deformity_ helped more than I thought it would. I decided to just tell him. I always think things through, and this was no exception. I had weighed the pros and cons endlessly for I don't know how long, but at this moment I just decided to follow my heart and forget pros and cons. So I'm a freak, but Jacob loves me, freak or not. He has to. Here goes nothing.

"Jacob?" I asked, hesitantly. Bella called him Jake. That's part of the reason I was determined to call him Jacob, at least until I found a cutesy nickname for him that was 100 my own.

"Hmmm?" He hummed. I realized that his eyes were closed and he was in a kind of euphoric haze. He was so happy, so contented to just be here holding me. That kind of weirded me out, to be honest. I mean, I like him… but… that's weird! Old habits die hard, and I was in the habit of thinking that anyone who liked me had to have something wrong with his brain. I'm not huge on self-confidence, if you haven't noticed. I mean, I have it in some ways, but guys have never been my strong point. Anyway, it was kind of weird, so I pulled from his embrace. He doesn't even know me! Not the real me, the me with WINGS! I saw disappointment on his face, and it tugged on my heartstrings, so to keep connected, I laced my fingers into his and brushed a strand of his wet hair from his face. His eyes lit up again. Man, he wasn't hard to please. I could just act like I was into him, that's all. The problem was, I didn't have to act, and that worried me. It's not like me to fall in love. I never fall in love! Well, actually, I "fall in love" all the time, but it never lasts long. "Out of sight out of mind" probably best describes how my crushes go, Edward being exhibit "next time won't you sing with me." (You know, the alphabet song?) Anyway, I liked Jacob a lot and that bothered me. I didn't know when I might have to fly (haha) off someplace else and cut all my connections. I didn't want those connections to get too deep. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Jacob was a good one to get connected to then, he already gave up pretty much everything he had and would follow me to the ends of the earth. Still…

Anyway, where were we? Jacob had just hummed, linked fingers, brushed away hair… all right. So, I threw away all my inhibitions and prepared to tell him the whole story. And I did. Well, not the whole story. Most of the story. All that I could remember anyway. And I left out some of the more scary parts, I didn't want Jacob running off and trying to kill people. Or people who weren't really people. Yeah. The story. Here's how it all went…

**A/N: Yes, the chapter ends here. Suspenseful, isn't it? lol, Alaina rambles a lot, and spaces out and goes off into her own little world and has to remember to check back into Earth every now and then. That's just the way she is as a character, but if her thought-filled spacieness annoys anyone let me know and I will try to write more in Jacob's point of view. Hope you liked it, read, review, etc. Hearts! **

**Bridget**


	8. Telling the Story Part II

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 8: Telling the Story: Part II

**A/N: Sorry it's been taking so long to update. It's been what, two weeks? Maybe more, probably more... I don't know, but... I feel bad. Thanks once again to BlueyGooz who still PMs me even though I am sooo obnoxious to her I am sure. It's been so long I almost forgot where I left off. Oh ya, Alaina's secret. Okay, so I hope you like it. I have a little disclaimer. The wings thing... not my idea. Go out today, if you haven't already, and read James Patterson's Maximum Ride. Start with "The Angel Experiment" I promise you will love them if you even remotely like my story at all in the teeniest little bit. He's published, I'm not. Case closed. Hope you enjoy this chapter, at least. If you haven't read Max Ride, you shouldn't be too confused. I don't want to scare my Twilight people away. Enjoy!**

**_Alaina's POV:_**

I had never poured out my heart to someone like this before. It was a little weird, but in a way, it felt right that the first one I really talked to, the first one I really told EVERYTHING to was him. I had talked to Angela and Toby about it. They knew what I was, but they weren't like me, they didn't understand, so it didn't feel right to be telling them about my feelings, but Jacob... he understood. He was a freak too, and that made him know on a deeper level what I was feeling. Part of me was proud of what I was, part of me was just wishing I was normal. I knew he would understand... but it was still hard to start telling him what I knew would change his opinion of me forever. I stuttered into the story, awkward.

"Jacob...?" We were standing, facing each other. Each of his hands completely covered each of mine, they were so big. I liked it. "I am going to tell you everything now. Almost everything. Listen, and don't talk and don't do anything stupid."

"Okay." He responded, immediately blushing like he didn't know if he was even supposed to say that. I had been pretty firm when I said "Don't talk, don't do anything stupid."

"My mother..." I didn't know how to explain it... it was so weird to even me. I started from the beginning of my life. I started from before the beginning of my life. I didn't fully understand my own story, but I could at least tell him what I knew. "My mother immigrated to the US of A from Sweden. She was blonde, I get my hair from my dad. She was beautiful and crazy and my dad fell like a rock. He tells the story with such a tender, loving, sadness in his eyes that it breaks my heart. He likes to tell it. Once he gets past the days of little Toby and Angela he starts to remember the ending and doesn't tell the rest. I ruined her. Daddy doesn't hold it against me, but... still, it's not the same with me. He doesn't know what to do with a daughter like me."

Jacob was looking at me, confused. He knew that my mother had died, but he had no idea what this little story about my mother was leading up to. He didn't know why I had ruined my mother or what made me different from Angela and Toby. I didn't even know why I had started back that far, I guess I wanted him to know everything that mattered and everything that came before what mattered too. This was more than just spilling the beans about my wings. This was spilling the beans about my life, from my parents and siblings down to the unnatural extra extremities grafted into my back, down deeper into the unnatural instincts in my brain and what the whole ordeal had done to my heart. It had ripped it in two, I knew I was warped because of who I was and what had happened. I was beyond normal, I was paranormal. I was still a good person. I wouldn't sink to the lows that the people who had done this to me, done this to my mother and my father, had sunk to. I was hanging in there. I was being tough, like my mom. Actually... I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Daddy was in law school at the time. She breezed into his life and took it by storm. She was going to the same college, but for creative writing. I didn't know that Stanford offered a creative writing major until Dad told me, I thought that was pretty awesome at the time. Anyway, he tells me that they dated for like, five years, which is kind of a long time. He says they never fought and never had any problems, but I think he just says that to make me think they lived in some sort of lovers Utopia solely because they dated so long. That's the thing about Dad, he's very conservative. He wants me to get into a solid relationship and stay there for years until tying the knot. Now I want it for myself... I don't want to rush into anything, and I know with my history and my little secret I can't afford to rush into anything. I have to be careful... so you know it's kind of hard for me to accept the whole imprint thing. Nothing can go that fast for me."

I had to tell him, so he would understand. I knew at this point he didn't really care about my parents or what my mother went to school for... he just wanted to hear about me. But, I think he realized I was going to take this slow and lay it out in the right order, so he didn't say anything. Of course, that could be because I had ordered him not to.

"Anyway, they got married. The wedding was small, but beautiful and took place at her parent's house. They lived in Chicago together for another four years before having the twins. Maybe I didn't mention that Angela and Toby are twins. They are so different and they don't look that much alike... it's easy for me to forget they are. Plus, Toby looks so much older than Angela anyway... Anyway, they had a happy little life. Dad was a corporate lawyer, making the big bucks and mom stayed home with the twins, ocasionally working on her children's book. She got published and it made the bestsellers list, but she never did interveiws or anything... she liked her quiet life.

**A/N: HUGE DISCLAIMER: From here on out there are a lot of Max Ride referances. I made up my own story just using peices of what was in the books, so it's a little bit twisted. What do you call it, AU? I don't know that much about fanfic lingo yet. Anyway, there might be a few little spoilers, but very few. Mostly it's my own story... but I still have to give credit where credit is due.**

"When Angela and Toby were two, Dad got a job in California, in a little town called Panamint Springs, kind of close to Death Valley. It paid good, but Mom didn't like California, she liked the North, where it was cooler and wetter and greener. Dad never talked to us about what the job was about... but I dug through his papers one day and found out he was trying to discreetly gather enough evidance to bring down a research company called Itex. I guess it used to have fingers in pretty much every pie, kind of like Coca Cola owns like, every soda out there. The company was really corrupt and all take over the world-y, and they had a secret lab (well, they thought it was secret... it wasn't, really. Dad's company knew about it, that's why they had him work in Panamint Springs) in Death Valley. But that all comes in later on.

"Anyway, Mom was pregnant with me and was going to a doctor in Panamint Springs. Dad told me once that she really liked the doctor, she thought she was a really nice lady. Mom could find the good in everyone. Anyway, they had Mom sign all these papers with all sorts of fine print, and Mom, being the trusting lady that she was, signed them all. They looked pretty innocent to her, just contracts saying it was okay to use modern technology on her when she was pregnant with me or whatever. So, they did all this weird stuff in the name of technology and when I was born I had little wings folded onto my back."

He looked a little confused at that, but once he heard more of the story I was sure he could get the hang of what actually went on and maybe even get used to the fact that I had these wings... Maybe he could even help me.

"I guess the only reason Mom even got to see me, the only reason that I wasn't taken to the lab was that I was born premature, and my family was on vacation at the time. Here in Westport actually. Mom was really bummed that her doctor that she liked so much couldn't deliver me, but when the slightly bewildered nurses handed her her little bird baby... she kind of got suspicious and figured out that maybe her favorite doctor wasn't the coolest thing ever after all. Dad freaked out. He is a smart guy, he was good at what he did, and still is. He wasn't completely in the dark about bird babies. He had spent many an hour out of town, interveiwing people like ex-Itex scientists who had managed to escape their job with their lives, lucky them. I don't know much about Itex or what they all did or whatever. I was lucky enough to escape the lab, and therefore escape all the terrible stuff that was done there, but I know they were bad. Dad and Mom left us here with our aunt, then went back to get all our stuff and move us to Seattle. He knew we were in danger. So we moved.

"I'm not a doctor, so I don't really understand what happened to my mother. But I guess the human body isn't meant to host bird, unless it's cooked and digested. My DNA is arranged so the human part of my body doesn't attack the bird part, but when Mom was pregnant with me, she had to be injected with a drug to keep her body from attacking me. Of course, at the time she didn't know what the drug was, so when the family went on vacation she didn't bother to consult with her doctor. When she gave birth to me, her body desperately needed another dose of the drug, but we were far from home. Her antibodies went into attack mode. Lucky for me, I got out in time. I was born before they reached me. However, Mom wasn't so lucky. With nothing specific (namely me) to attack, and no drug to keep them in line, Mom's antibodies attacked her instead. Mom was tough, and didn't want to ruin the vacation for everyone, so she kept her pain a secret. She just thought she had a little bug. She didn't know that her own immune system was killing her from the inside. When Dad finally found out what was going on, it was too late to save her. The clinic here in Westport didn't have the advanced drugs that Itex had, so they couldn't save her. Within a week of my birth, my mother was dead.

"Dad was devastated. He threw himself into his work. It's been 17 years, more than that actually, that Dad's company has been on the case. They are trying to gather enough evidence to sue Itex out of business, but it hasn't been working. Itex is so well-organized and has so many branches that they have to be taken down one by one... and a lot of the time, Itex wins court cases. They are so powerful, but almost twenty years of dedicated work by my dad and his coworkers has weakened Itex. They won't be able to take over the world, and the scientific branch of their company has been taken down. As far as I know there aren't any more kids like me being made. I think I was one of the last, but not the first. So, that's how my childhood was spent. Pretty much on my own, while my Dad was at work. He went out of town a lot too. When I turned fifteen Dad told me the whole story, like I am telling you. I love my dad and I know that he loves me, but he was so busy for all of my childhood that it is pretty much only his money we get anymore. I wish someone other than my dad was on the case, but I know that few people have been touched by this like he has. I plan on contributing to the takedown of Itex once I get out of college. I don't know what I'm going to do. I might be a doctor or nurse and investigate on my own time, or I might be a lawyer like my dad. I don't have what it takes to be a secret angent or whatever, that's unrealistic. There is still a lot we don't know, there is still a lot that has to be done. It's not over, and at some point in my life I'm going to need your help, because they have wolfmen too.

"Like I said, I was one of the last to be made. By the time they had me all fixed up they had almost perfected the art of genetic mutation. I don't have to worry about dying early because of health problems brought on by my mutation. The earlier models did, they never knew when their DNA would kind of "blow up" because of all the unnatural things done to it, killing them. There were other mutants too, wolf men. They were called Erasers, and their lifespan was like, five years. They were also perfected throughout the years, the last ones could live like normal humans. That's why it is hard for me to trust you. You are pretty much an organic Eraser, born this way because of your natural heritage, not because someone made you it. They only turn into wolfmen when they are angry, or they can do it at will. Just like you. You understand why it's hard for me to trust. Of course, there are key differences, I know you aren't going to turn on me and take me to a lab or something... It's just... hard. Dad told me all about all the horrible things the Erasers did, and... I hope you understand. Don't take it personal. That's pretty much the story. Angela, Toby and I wanted to come back to this place with me, they are good siblings. I wanted to come back to the place where I was born... Now that I have graduated, things have changed quite a bit, I wanted to come back to the root of it all. Angela and Toby wanted to make it a good time, as well as a self-discovery voyage, so they brought along their signifigant others and made it a party. I visited the hospital when we first got here, pretending to be interested in the nursing field. Well, I didn't really have to pretend, that's kind of what I want to be, but I didn't find out anything from them... It gave me a little closure though. So... here I am, and here you are, and well..."

**A/N: As you may have figured out already, this takes place a while after the Max Ride books, they had the whole hybrid thing all figured out. So, she's a later model, and I'm making the assumption that they continued to make more, even though that's not how it went down in the books... another thing, I haven't read the Final Warning at all, so I have no clue what really goes down. Can someone tell me, though, how many Max Ride books there are supposed to be total?**

I trailed off. I didn't know how to gracefully end a story like that. Jacob wordlessly folded me against his chest, and for the first time in years I just broke down and cried. You know the kind of grief where you just can't cry? I had kept all these tears bottled up for so long. Grief, anger, confusion, neglect... the whole "Why me?" thing, it felt like I had bottled it all up for years and now I could just let it out. It felt so good. He murmered into my hair and rocked me back and forth, rubbing my back. I didn't need him to try any kissy thing right now, all I needed was the hug. He seemed to know that, so that's all he did. I was grateful for that.

Both of us had been so engrossed in my story that we didn't notice that there were people on the beach now, lots of them. It was freezing. Why were there so many incredibly good-looking people out here? Alarm bells went off. Dad had said that the genetic mutation that made Erasers wolf-people also made them look like models.

**A/N: I hope I didn't confuse anyone or annoy anyone with my trying to explain what might have confused anyone with my annoying A/N's. Got that? lol, it seems like my security blanket A/N's are here to stay. I apologize, I really do. Anyway, hope you liked it! I had a good time writing it, I loved stealing James Patterson's ideas and twisting and mixing them into my own story. I hope you Twilight people were able to follow it and were'nt too annoyed. For the most part, this is still a Twilight story. Keep reading and reviewing, PLEASE! Oh, and I just realized this is my longest chapter yet. Yay me! lol,**

**Bridget**


	9. Werewolves, Erasers and Wings Oh Dear!

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 9: Werewolves, Erasers and Wings… Oh Dear!

**A/N: Hey, I really don't have much to say about this chapter. There were things I liked and things I didn't. I hope everybody get's it and all that, I know that sometimes my style can be confusing. No A/N's this time, I was pretty satisfied with the chapter and didn't think I would need any... you might beg to differ! Let me know what you think, as always! Enjoy! Oh, and no Alaina in this chapter, it's all Jacob's POV.**

_**Jacob's POV:**_

I had no clue what to think. Alaina had such a horrible life! I mean, I had lost my mother too. It's hard, it really is… but no one had KILLED her! That would make it worse, especially with my wolf-y temper I would never be able to live a day without the grief and anger completely consuming me. I knew she was a better person because she didn't try to bring them down. Not that she wasn't TRYING… she just wasn't being stupid about it. She was smart enough to know that there was not much she could do at this point. I respected her for that; that was okay with me. Sure, she was superhuman, but not every superhuman has to save the world. Just look at me, running away because of relationship problems! Relationship problems! That was nothing compared to what Alaina has to live with every day. I suddenly realized how stupid I had been. This Itex thing was a problem! I mean… you can't do that to people! I remember how I felt about Sam and his crew back in the old days, before I first shifted. I mean, I didn't like them at all. If I had a choice about what I was going to become, I wouldn't have chosen this. That's part of the reason that Bella's decision confused me so much. Now, with Alaina, I understood a little bit better, but still… a vampire? Anyway, I knew the reason I was what I was. It was part of my heritage and it was noble and a great honor in the tribe blah blah. So I guess that made it easier to deal with. Alaina had been dealt a card that was nothing like that. It was a shot out of the blue, a random hit to the stomach. There was no reason she had to be that way, other than the evil of others. So I felt for her, I really did. In some ways, we were the same, feeling the same things. In other ways, she had it so much worse than me.

So there she was, crying away on my chest like she hadn't cried for years. Actually, she probably hadn't cried for years, knowing her. And then, suddenly, she looked up and stiffened.

"Snap!" she whispered hoarsely, but with feeling. The tears still tracked down her face, but in her eyes there was more than just grief. There was genuine fear. My instincts were telling me something was terribly wrong. Well, not just my instincts, reason was telling me the same thing. It was freezing! The temperature was less than 45 degrees, but when I turned slowly, Alaina still there in my arms, the beach was covered in beautiful beach bods all wearing swimsuits. I didn't understand it, but if it was scaring Alaina this much… I had to do something.

"What are they?" I asked, knowing that they couldn't be human. Only I could stand around in a swimsuit on a day like this and not look cold. That alone gave me a pretty good idea of what they were. After all, hadn't Alaina said I was pretty much an organic version of…

"Erasers." She hissed. "Lot's of them." I knew they had to be suspicious by now. We were whispering, but I knew if they were whispering I would be able to hear it. Who knew what kind of crazy super hearing they had. From what I had heard from Alaina, these crazy scientists were channeling their genius in less than respectable ways, but it was genius nonetheless. These Eraser things couldn't be good. I stiffened when I heard a smooth, honey-coated voice behind me. Wow, these guys were worse than vampires. Well, no they weren't… but getting there. They were sneaky anyway, and when the enemy is sneaky enough to sneak up on me… not cool.

"Let's talk, kids." It was a man, in his late forties at least. He looked like George Clooney. Alaina had said these things could lead normal lives, so it made sense that such an old guy was still alive and stuff… but when she talked about Erasers it always seemed like they were younger, with the five year thing and all… I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. That's the thing about combat though; you shouldn't allow yourself to be surprised. That's why the pack and I had spent so much time out in the "baseball diamond" with all the smelly vampires before the newborn fight. Preparation is essential, surprise can kill you. So I immediately started racking my brain for anything she had told me about Erasers. Anything that might cue me in on a weakness or a fighting style I could use against them. All I could remember was that they were wolf men who could morph when angry or at will and they did a lot of killing. That wasn't much to work with. I would have to bide my time. And really, there must have been at least a hundred of them. I didn't think I could take them by myself. So I waited. I waited and I held Alaina, shielding her from anyone or anything that might try to hurt her.

"H-how did you find me?" Alaina asked. I knew she was trying to be brave. After the first little stutter, her voice was strong and clear and anger blazed in it. I could almost see the smoke billowing out of her ears, but all the same there was still fear in her eyes, and behind them I knew the wheels in her head were whirling around just as fast as the wheels in mine were. She had the whole hybrid thing going for her too; I knew she could take care of herself against one or two of these mutants… but against one hundred of these things? Not a chance! And we couldn't exactly take on fifty each, that wouldn't really work out either. I only knew one other person within a 300-mile radius of this place that could even begin to be a match for these guys, and I wasn't about to ask him for help. Not in my head and not out loud. Unless Alaina was in serious danger, that is. Then I would accept help from anyone, just as long as she was safe.

"It wasn't easy, dear." The Eraser responded to Alaina's question in a completely false fatherly voice. It sent chills up my spine, who does stuff like that? Was he just playing with us? When he started talking to us, the different bathing suited beach bums with beautiful bodies got up one by one and began to gather around, forming a perfect circle around us with no visible escape route. About now I wished I had Edward's little skill and could pick Alaina's brain. Were her wings strong enough to carry two of us? I didn't think they were. George Clooney Wolf Dude continued. "You got away from us at birth, you don't have that handy dandy tracking chip in you that most of our mutants have. It took more difficult, subtle methods. Good old-fashioned snooping is what it took. We found out that you were born here, and have had spies stationed here ever since. We knew you were here the minute you showed up. Of course, getting our plan together took a little time. It's really too bad we couldn't get you before your little boyfriend got here, it would have spared him a lot of trouble. You really shouldn't be a tattle-cat like that… or should I say tattle-bird. Now he knows too much and will have to take our little trip with us. Such an inconvenience for all of us, don't you think? It would have been so much easier if you had just kept your little mouth shut. Oh, and your siblings put up quite a fight too. We wouldn't have had to take their two little friends if they hadn't joined in too. It's a shame. Six unexplained disappearances are much harder to deal with than only one. Should've kept quiet bird girl." He sneered.

"What do you want from me? What do you want from us? What 'little trip?'" Alaina screamed it. Tears were pouring from her eyes again. I was surprised she had any left. She was borderline hysterical, or at least she was acting like she was. I never knew what to expect from her. I could still see the steely anger and fear in her eyes. That didn't seem very hysterical to me, it was solid, steady and real. Perhaps it was just an act. I loved her, but that didn't mean I knew how to read her quite yet. She turned her head into my neck and sobbed. I didn't understand what she was doing. She knew better than to just cry when things weren't going your way. Then I heard it. She whispered so soft I knew the Erasers had to have pretty darn super hearing to hear it. Her lips moved only enough so they looked like they were trembling. Her mouth was right next to my ear, and even with my wolf-y hearing I had to listen hard to catch what she was saying.

"Wait. We get information. When I apologize to you, morph. I'll fly. Got it?"

I didn't really understand her plan, but I figured I would follow her lead when she put it into action. I hoped that would be enough to get us through this, just as long as she was above the heads of these Eraser things, that was cool with me. She kept faux sobbing into my shoulder, waiting for George Clooney Wolf Dude (or GCWD from now on) to reply. Lucky for us, he did.

"Oh, we don't want much dear. It will only hurt a bit. We just want to see what it's like when you grow up in a normal environment; we'll just do a few tests, keep you in the lab for a while. No big deal. Oh, and we'll try to get your dad to 'rescue you' so we can take him down."

"NO!" What was in her eyes now was real hysterics. I didn't know what to do. She loved her dad, and I knew even though she kind of resented the fact that he spent so much time at work, she also loved how much work he was putting into taking down Itex. It occurred to me that obviously his work in taking down the science branch hadn't been enough. Obviously there were still scientists doing sick things to innocent people. Obviously there were still Erasers running around. Maybe his work had all been in vain, but if I had anything to say about it, mine wouldn't be. When I was done there would only be organic Erasers left on this planet. I felt the anger surge through me, knew that I had to refrain from morphing just yet. The hot shudders going through my body must have torn Alaina out of her hysterical state. She snapped her head up off of my shoulder. GCWD was laughing, a barking, raspy laugh. It was so unlike his honey voice, it alarmed me. Then I realized what he was doing. He was morphing. We didn't have much time. I knew Alaina had to apologize soon or it would be too late. Then, she looked up into my eyes, her blue eyes swimming a little still. The fear was there more than ever. I could see the reflection of at least a hundred models growing hairy and getting longer teeth in the tears on her cheeks. It made me nervous.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, then, quicker than I thought possible, she kissed my cheek (butterflies took flight in my stomach just then) whirled away from GCWD, put her hands on the backs of my shoulders and pushed off the ground, snapping out a pair of big, beautiful, russet colored wings from slits in her sweatshirt. As soon as her hands left my shoulders I was changing, apologizing silently to the designer jeans Alaina had bought me as they ripped to shreds from the pressure of my morphing. I noticed, as I looked down at my huge paws and looked up again to the sky, that Alaina's wings were almost the exact same color as my fur. For some reason, that gave me comfort. That was the last thought that entered my mind before it was war.

There were a few things that Alaina forgot to mention about the Erasers. They didn't have to worry about their clothes, because really, their morph was a half-morph compared to what happened to me. I _became_ a wolf, a huge, oversized wolf with the ability to reason. They became big hairy guys with abnormally long noses and sharp teeth and claws on the end of their hands. At least, that's what it looked like to me. So, really, one of them was no match for me anyway, and I had the element of surprise. As I said before, surprise can kill you. In this case though, it was them, not me, being killed. For a while.

It had been forever since I had been in a good fight. The Cullen's were no fun; they were "good vampires." We had an agreement with them. The last time had been the newborn debacle, and I had had an excellent time, even when I got hurt. Nothing is more fun than taking out vampires, except for, of course, taking out wolf men. The nice thing about this arrangement was that I could hear their thoughts. Not like the pack, where I could hear and feel and know everything that had ever happened too them, but we shared just enough DNA I guess that I could hear whispers of what their plan was and all that. So the amazing team of Alaina and I (she would swoop out of the sky and land punches and kicks and stuff, it was pretty cool) pretty much took out half of the Erasers. She looked at me with awe. I looked at her with awe. This seemed so perfect, to be fighting with each other, for each other. Like this was how it was supposed to be for the rest of eternity.

Then, all the Erasers we had knocked out started to wake up, and shake off their wounds (they healed fast too!) and we started getting tired. One Eraser took a swing at Alaina and connected with the side of her head. I ripped his throat out. It was kind of gory for Alaina to watch and I immediately felt sorry. I had never killed anyone other than vampires before. Also, I could hear what he thought right before he died. It was more of an emotion, something that can't be explained, but it made me feel sick. Feeling sick during the middle of a fight is hardly a good thing. So, we were weakened. I told Alaina to go, to fly to where she would be safe but she wouldn't. She said that she would stick by me. It was touching and everything, but it hurt too, to watch her get socked by these deformed things. I was in combat with a female Eraser when another one, a male, hit me from behind. He took a piece of pretty sturdy driftwood and conked it over my head. All four of my legs buckled beneath me, and I was out. The last thing I saw before I hit the ground was Alaina and her look of utter fear.

**A/N: OK, I officially stink at writing fight scenes. But really, where is the fun if there isn't at least one fight scene? Well, rewiew and keep reading! I hope you understood everything and aren't sitting there going "What?!" If you are, just tell me and I will try to fix it in my next chapter, sometimes my head gets ahead of my hands and I think I have explained something that I haven't. Well, REVIEW! I hope you liked it!**

**Bridget**

**P.S. I am trying to make this chapter exactly 3,000 words. So I'm writing this thing. I hope this doesn't bother anyone. Don't read it if it does. I know, very immature of me, isn't it? Don't be surprised if a sentence is cut short or something. Golly, I have a whole sixty two words to go. I could, like, add more into my story, I guess... this is way less fun for the reader. So, has anybody read any good books lately? I am rereading the Max Ride series and getting a kick out of it. I just finished Meg Cabot's Avalon High, too. It was pretty good. Oooh! I did it! YAY!**


	10. Closure

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Chapter 10: Closure

**A/N: I think this may be my last chapter. I will probably do an Epilogue or something... but this is the last chapter chapter. I hope you like it, and DO NOT forget to review. I love reviews more than anything else in the world. Tell me what you thought of the story overall, what you would have changed, what you wished wouldv'e happened... whatever! Just talk to me. Anyway, I feel almost good about this chapter, I hope you all feel the same. Enjoy!**

_**Alaina's POV**_

I had never been in a fight before. Okay, there was that one time when I socked Lorrie Harrison on the playground in third grade and gave her a bloody nose, but that doesn't really count. Anyway, this was actually fun. At the beginning, I was laughing, just watching Jacob take out all the wolf guys. Then, after a while… yeah, it wasn't pretty. The fighting thing came sort of natural for me. Well, not the offensive, really. I didn't know how to attack these guys, but my birdie instinct kept me from getting hit. I would usually fly out of the way in the nick of time and then maybe land a punch or kick on my way up. I couldn't do much, I wasn't raised for this or trained for this, but I think I was probably genetically altered for this so… that helped a little bit.

I managed to take out quite a few of them, and Jacob was taking them out twice as fast. Then, he went down. Everything seemed to slow down. I watched him fall. It seemed to take forever. In that instant, I realized how much I liked him. I don't throw the word "love" around a lot, so maybe I did realize I loved him at that point, but I didn't admit it in words. Love takes time, that's what Dad told me, and that's what I believe. But, whether or not I loved him, when I watched Jacob go down I almost hit rock bottom. For one, he was what had saved me, without him I might as well just give up. I couldn't take on all the Erasers by myself. Also, I didn't want to see him hurt, and believe me, these Erasers have nothing against kicking someone when they are down, so to speak. He was out, and still they were showing him no mercy. The older guy who was talking to us earlier bent down with a syringe of fluid, probably to knock him out for good. I caught comments like "interesting specimen" coming up in the air. I hovered just out of reach for what seemed like forever, not knowing what to do. Right before the old guy plunged the needle into Jacob's neck, several things happened at once.

I heard a shriek of anger. No, two of them, but they blended as one. One of them came from Bella. She was tearing down the hill faster than I have ever seen anyone move. She looked like a blur, as cliché and cheesy as it sounds. I realized in that instant that the other angry sound was coming from me. It hit me in waves, the anger washing over me. How dare they? I wasn't going to just sit here and take this! It had been getting darker the whole time we were fighting, but part of it was just the clouds covering the sun. At that very moment, the clouds were blown away by a gust of wind and the last light of the sunset lit up the beach with a rosy glow. Bella and Edward, who had shown up right behind her, were glittering like rubies in the last rays of the setting sun. I only had time to wonder why on earth Bella would be glittering before I dive-bombed the old guy, and the fight was on again.

Bella and Edward moved like flashes of orangey light. They were faster than me, and faster than Jacob. They were waaaayyy faster than the Erasers, and that was what mattered at this point. Edward was a better fighter than Bella was, but he was doing it out of obligation more than the insane rage that was driving Bella. She seemed invincible, like nothing the Erasers tried would work against her. I realized, as I repeatedly punched the old guy Eraser in the face, (man I hated him) that Bella must be a vampire now. Her eyes were bright red and she looked paler than she had when we had met that afternoon. But that was impossible! Jacob had told me it took days to become one. Hmm, it was all so interesting, but I didn't really have time to muse over it right now.

After I had turned Old Guy's face into mincemeat (well, kind of, he was in rough shape, anyway) I took the vial from his hand and injected him with it. I whirled away from the attack of another Eraser, almost tripping over a pile of three unconscious Erasers in the process. I decided it would probably be best to take to the air again. As I stated before, I wasn't meant for combat, and without the help of my wings I was pretty useless. The only reason I had managed to get the old guy anyway was through good old surprise. And anger. I was really ticked off. The only time I remember being that ticked off was in third grade, at Lorrie Harrison. Hmmm, I'm beginning to see a pattern here, are you?

We fought like that for quite a while, me back to my air tactics and Bella and Edward whirling around decimating everything in their paths. The sun completely set and the moon came out (a full moon, how ironic). There was enough light to see by with the moon reflecting off the ocean and everything, so the fight continued. Sometime before the sun set completely, Jacob woke up. He heals fast, I know from experience, so it didn't really surprise me when he immediately started fighting again. Still, I felt a ton of relief when he did. I saw a distinct look of confusion on his wolf-y face when he saw Bella running around, and it cracked me up. She flashed him a smile.

It didn't take long and the Erasers got the call to retreat. They ceased their attack on us and instead focused their energies on reviving who they could and clearing out. They had to drag Old Guy behind them. It made me smile. Once we figured out they were leaving, we didn't bother to attack anymore. I was exhausted, and I was pretty sure everyone else was too. Well, maybe not Bella. She looked high-strung and energetic, her red eyes glinting almost crazily. She kind of scared me… I had never seen someone like that before. She bounced on her feet, each bounce taking her higher than the last until she was jumping feet into the air. She seemed to be flexing all her vamp-y skills. I was pretty darn sure she was a vampire now. I still didn't know how though.

Finally, Bella quit bouncing. She went over to Edward and they embraced. Then, we all watched as the last of the Erasers straggled off the beach. A feral, crazy laugh bubbled out of Bella. She laughed and laughed. Something about it was intoxicating, and soon I was laughing too, laughing until tears leaked out of my eyes. Edward was laughing at Bella laughing and I'm pretty sure Jacob was laughing too, all of us just about dying. Jacob's laugh made me laugh even harder, it was more like a bark-y howl-y sound, and the almost human expression on his face cracked me up even more. I linked my arms around his neck and laced my fingers in his fur, laughing into his soft, russet coat until my stomach hurt.

It was Edward who stopped laughing first. He struck me as the more serious type, so it didn't surprise me. I forced myself to stop after that and get myself together. I had to get Jacob some pants and I had to find Angela, Toby, and the gang. Then, I wanted to know why Bella was a vampire. It couldn't have been more than three or four hours since I had seen her last. It was impossible to become a vampire on such short notice. So, once the last crazy chuckle spilled from Bella's blood-red lips, I motioned for all of them to follow me and we went to my cabin.

My siblings were knocked out on the floor along with their significant others. I felt a new panic rising, until Edward found a pulse in all of them. He went and got a doctor's bag from his own cabin (what?! A doctor's bag? Why?) and did a bunch of stuff to all of their unconscious bodies. Before I knew it, they were stirring.

While Edward was doing his thing, I found an extra pair of pants for Jacob. He went into a bedroom and changed, both back into a human and into the pants. When he came out, his shaggy hair falling over his eyes and his brown, bare chest gleaming with the sweat of the fight, I felt a little leap in my chest. His black eyes found mine, and I grinned shyly at him. He grinned back.

Then, Angela, Toby, Louise and Cody were each telling the story of the Eraser break in. Cody's tale cracked me up the most. He expounded and exaggerated more than the rest of them and made it very interesting. The rest kept interjecting into his story with stuff like "You did NOT take out an Eraser with one punch Cody, you didn't even leave a scratch on any of them." You get the idea of how Cody was telling this particular story.

I always kept an eye on Bella. She looked like she was going insane. Her eyes were watering and she kept licking her lips and swallowing. I noticed that Edward always kept a firm hand on each of her wrists. Could she be that dangerous? Why was she still here if it was killing her that much? Finally, after they realized that the main points of the story were told (basically, the Erasers busted into the cabin, and the group fought them for about two seconds before they were knocked out), they headed outside. Jacob and I met each other's eyes, and then followed them, telling the crew that we were going for a walk. They looked bewildered, but they didn't say anything or try to follow us. I didn't see how they couldn't have noticed that there was a red-eyed crazy person in their cabin with them. I hoped they wouldn't press me too much, I didn't feel like going there, at least not right now.

We had to jog to catch up to our vampire friends (can you call them friends? They did save our skins back there…). Bella still looked like she was about to lose it when I showed up.

"Um… should I leave, I mean, am I making you uncomfortable?" I asked her. I hoped she would say that I could stay. I didn't want to miss out on anything.

"No, uh, you're fine. You smell like bird. It was your siblings that were killing me." She smiled. I was surprised by how normal she sounded, even with the crazy glint still in her eyes.

"Um, okay, thanks." I sounded really dumb right now, but what do you say to a crazy newborn vampire? Any ideas? There was a moment of awkward silence. We continued walking, down towards the beach. It seemed like everything took place at the beach anymore. I guess that's cool with me. I love the beach. Even if everything in my life changes, kind of like it did this week, the ocean is still the same; gray, wet and noisy, the waves pounding the sand. I love the ocean. Have I said that before?

We reached the beach. I think Jacob must have been asking Edward all sorts of questions in his head, sort of like I was, because once we got there he immediately launched into his story.

"Science has come a long way since the last time Carlisle changed anyone. He used to have to bite them as close as possible to the heart and hope it doesn't take that long for them to change. It's easier now. All I had to do was inject a lot of my venom almost directly into Bella's heart. She was a vampire in just under three hours. I think that might be a record. Of course, she was in a lot more pain in those three hours than any of the rest of us would have been when we were changed, but she preferred it this way. She's glad she was able to help."

Edward annoyed me. He was always speaking for Bella and making Bella do this and telling Bella not to do that. I wished he were a little less pushy. But, you know, that was just me.

"Thanks. That explains a lot." Jacob answered. That was all he said for a while.

_**Jacob's POV**_

I didn't know whether to be thankful or just hurt. It cut me to the core to see Bella like that. I had found the girl of my dreams, and as much as I didn't like Edward I knew that Bella had the guy of her dreams. I didn't know why I couldn't just let it go. I needed closure, but I wasn't sure if I knew how to get it. I asked Edward first, in my head. I knew she was his now, in a way, I couldn't be her happy go lucky best friend anymore. She was married, and while she was still her own person, and he shouldn't push her around, she did belong to him. And he belonged to her. I got an almost imperceptible nod in return.

"Bella? Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked warily. She was kind of creeping me out. I was kind of in shock after the whole fight and Bells being a vampire and all that… it was wearing on me.

For a long time we just walked in the moonlight. Then, all my feelings just started pouring out. I told her about how much I loved her still, then how much more I loved Alaina. I told her that I never wanted her to be a vampire. Everything that I might have kept from her before I just poured out. Finally, we reached the end of the beach. Before this I hadn't even seen the end of the beach, much less walked to it. It kind of surprised me. I wondered what Alaina was up to. I knew I could probably trust Edward now, but still… I was a little worried.

We stopped, looking at the grass and buildings that had suddenly appeared in front of us. Then, Bella took my hands and looked deep into my eyes and kissed me. At that moment I knew I didn't need her anymore. She had changed. She didn't fight me anymore because she knew I wouldn't want her like this. This was saying goodbye. I wasn't really being racist against vampires, but I had found someone who was so much more than her, and so much better. When her cold lips left mine, we linked fingers and walked back, as friends and nothing more. We would always love each other, but we would never need more. I finally found closure in that.

_**Alaina's POV**_

Honestly, if anyone knows any great conversation starters, let me know. What do you say to a vampire? I wasn't going to leave! So I stood there on the sand trying to make small talk with Edward, while he was probably trying to eavesdrop on what was going on down the beach through Jacob's head. I didn't know why I even bothered. He already knew what I was thinking before I spit it out, so finally I just sat down on the sand and shook my wings out. The beach was dead quiet and very dark. The moon provided light, but there was none of the yellow glow that came from headlights, streetlights and house windows that you see in the city. It was so nice. Edward sat down too. We just sat there together on the sand. I inched closer to the waves and poked my toes into the frigid water. I laid on my back and rubbed my wings on the sand, letting the tiny grains get into my feathers and scratch away every little itch. A few feathers came loose in the process. Edward picked one up and started playing with it, running it through his fingers. He was still looking very thoughtful, and a little bit stressed. I thought about saying something, but then thought better of it. Bella and Jacob were gone for over a half and hour. For most of it, Edward didn't say a word.

Near the end, the stress disappeared. A look of peace passed over his face, and he finally started talking. He asked me about stuff he shouldn't have known about in the first place, like my best friend Lily and the whole thing with Lorrie Harrison in the third grade. It was kind of nice, talking to him. Even though it was a little weird how he knew so much about me. Then, Jacob and Bella came back. They both looked happy. Jacob at least, looked happier than he had all week long. Bella looked happy to see Edward again. Did you know vampires don't have to sleep? I wonder what they do all night. Hmm.

After Jacob promised Bella he would return to La Push to ease the worries of his father and the pack, and she promised to visit him as a _friend_ sometime, we went our separate ways. Edward and Bella walked down the beach, and Jacob and I sat down on the sand. I was really wired, I didn't want to go to sleep. I hoped the others back at the cabin weren't worried about me. I turned to Jacob.

"Do you love me?" I asked him. I don't know why I did. I already knew the answer.

"More than anything else in the world" was his simple reply.

"Cool" was my slightly lame response. Then, I leaned over and kissed him, full on the lips. You know those kisses in the movies, where they go on and on and on in a make-out-y fashion? It wasn't like that. It went on in on and on, but it was gentle and light. It was the perfect first kiss.

**A/N: REVIEW! See that button that says "Submit Review?" Click it. You won't regret it. lol, tell me what you think! It's all up to you now! Summer is coming, and summers are always busy, so after this story is completely done and wrapped up new stories and updates to those stories will be few and far between. Your reviews are an amazing tool. They did wean me from A/N's didn't they? lol,**

**Bridget**


	11. Epilogue

Easy As Breathing

Easy As Breathing

Epilogue

**A/N: Here it is people, the end. It's annoyingly short, and annoyingly full of fluff, but I hope you like it anyway. I can honestly say this is the best story I have ever written, because it's the only one I have ever seen through until the end. I wish I was better at this kind of thing, because I don't really think this was that good of a story overall. I hope you all disagree, and will keep on eye on me just in case I decide to write something else. Cheers!**

_**Alaina's POV:**_

I was flying. Well, more like falling. I pushed my wings out a bit right before I hit the water, feeling my body slow dramatically, prolonging that breathtaking, suspenseful moment right before the water completely surrounded me. Then, it was only swirling icy water, pushing its way through the cracks between my feathers and racing in rivers through my hair, shocking my scalp. I could feel the current pulling me, and I immediately started to push towards the surface. When my head reached clean air at last, I inhaled deeply, accidentally sucking in some saltwater. I coughed. I barely had time to clear my airway before my mouth was once again filled with saltwater as Jacob created a splash right next to me. I hacked some more. He laughed and pushed his hand along his shaved head, the little prickles of dark hair sending drops of water in all directions. I liked how he looked with his head shaved. That was probably just because Bella liked him best with his hair long. I enjoy being a nonconformist. Or maybe I just like the idea of Jacob being all mine, and not hers anymore.

It was three weeks after the debacle on the beach, and Jacob and I were cliff jumping. I had come to visit him in La Push. Okay, so, I'll admit it now. I am completely falling head over heels in love with this werewolf dude. He is all that matters to me now, as dramatic as it sounds. Itex is still out there, and there are still vampires out there, the bad kind. There is evil all over and I know it. There is even more evil than I ever thought there was, but I know with Jacob and his rowdy pack of goofy werewolves, and the slightly awkward alliance with the vampires, we will get through it all. I'm truly happy now. I know that as long as there are good people around, Itex won't gain control of the world. Dad is still working on it, and I'm working on it too, with the help of a bunch of wolves and a coven of golden-eyed vampires, one of which can read minds, another of which can see the future, and yet another that is invincible. Yeah, I guess that is Bella's power. She is invincible. Nothing vampire or human or werewolf can effect her. I really hope she enjoys being a vampire then, because there is no way she is getting out of it now!

_**Jacob's POV:**_

"Race you to the top again!" Alaina called, then immediately snapped out her wings and started flying, reaching the top before I had even reached the beach. She leapt off the cliff again, then swam to the beach and climbed back up to the top with me. We chatted about stuff that mattered and stuff that didn't. I had committed to helping her take care of Itex. It's kind of a legal thing that I don't understand, some of it, but I can at least help her take out some Erasers along the way. I would do anything for her, and she knows it.

"Hey," Alaina said to me, softly, when we were both at the edge of the cliff again "I just want you to know, that no matter what, I…" she hesitated "We leap together." Then, she took my hand, and we jumped off the cliff together, hand in hand.

Later on, we cuddled on the beach, next to a bonfire. It was a driftwood fire, and the strange colors danced in her blue eyes, I watched her as she looked into the fire. She turned and caught me watching her. She smiled, then kissed me.  
"I love you." I whispered into her hair. I always reminded her that I did. So far, she hadn't said those three little words back, but I knew she loved me, just like I had known that Bella loved me. I had a knack for those kinds of feelings.

"And I love you, and need you." She said, finally. "I tried to tell you earlier, but those words aren't easy for me to say. Thanks for being patient with me." She smiled and kissed me again.

"It's not like I had a choice." I said, rolling my eyes. Then, we were both laughing. We laughed for a long time. Every time we would stop, something would start us up again, even the dumbest little things. I knew then that I had found something that wasn't easy as breathing, but _easier_ than breathing. This was more perfect than anything I could have dreamed up. I quietly thanked the monsters. But, I know now, that the monsters aren't really monsters, it's the people who are bad at heart who are monsters. The people who run Itex, for instance. I know that that Alaina and I can't save the world, but we can make it a little bit better, and as long as we stick together, we'll do it.

**A/N: I annoy myself. That was truly a pathetic attempt at believable romance. I hope you all didn't mind the insane use of way too much fluff. It was almost sticky sweet, but at least they are together! I hope you will review and make lengthy comments on what you loved and what you hated, what you wish had happened, etc. I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! I despereately need reviews. I love them, I want them, I am obsessed with them! Okay, that's a bit dramatic. Anyway, signing out... all you readers, write me a PM sometime. I like meeting new people. With a heavy heart,**

**Bridget**


End file.
